When you think back to the holidays of your childhood what do you remember the most? Is it the presents? Is it the people or the tree? Or is it the traditions your family observed that you truly remember?
For me it is the Holiday Family Traditions I remember the most and I have tried to establish holiday traditions with my kids as well and these traditions are the ones my kids remember each and every year.
As a kid I was blessed to have all of my grandmothers and two of my great-grandmothers still living. One of those great-grandmothers was a fabulous baker and some of my fondest memories are of baking with her. She died many years ago, but my mother and I continue on the tradition and bake holiday cookies with my kids each year. We get together, pull out my grandmother’s tried and true cookie recipes, wear her homemade aprons and spend the day laughing, baking and reminiscing. It is a wonderful way for three generations of the family to spend the day together and we always have fun.
Back when my older kids were little we lived in Hershey, PA and loved visiting Hersheypark and Sweetlights each holiday season. We no longer live in Hershey, however, we still make an effort to get there every year. It is a trip that my kids always talk about at the start of every holiday season. We all love visiting the “Sweeetest Place of Earth.”
Read about our trip to Christmas in Hershey here.
The holiday season is a great time to take advantage of events in your hometown. Each year our local train museum, Steamtown is a stop on the Canadian Pacific Holiday Train and it is always a great way to kick off the holiday season. We also take advantage of Christmas tree lighting ceremonies in our town, such as our local township and our local universities. Finally, we love to just take drives through town checking out Christmas light displays while rocking out to holiday tunes on the radio. It is always a fun time!
Finally, we love to just sit and relax with a cup of hot chocolate and watch our favorite holiday movies on TV. There is something great about watching my childhood favorite shows with my kids and helping them find some new favorites as well.
The Holidays can be a crazy busy time but if you take the time to slow down and make and enjoy holiday family traditions you will be making memories with your kids that someday they will pass down to their children.
What Holiday Family Traditions do you have with your family?
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Looking for more Christmas ideas? Over the next week, 25 bloggers will be sharing their creative ideas with you for recipes, decor, crafts, printables, and holiday traditions. Each day 5 new posts will go live so make sure you come back to check them out! At the end of our 25 Blogs of Christmas, we will be hosting a HUGE giveaway for a $250 Amazon Gift Card!
My family and I are still working on holiday traditions. One thing we do is the Traditional Polish Christmas Eve meal. My husband usually does it, but I started learning how to make some of the dishes so I could do it myself when he is not able to be home for Christmas.
Sounds yummy!! What foods do you eat at a traditional polish meal? Growing up my aunt who was Polish and Italian always did homemade pierogies…man were they good!
Over a few rough years, we’ve dropped some of our traditions, but this year we are back on schedule and I have a ton to plan!
Glad things are improving and that the traditions are back on track! Have a great holiday season!
We are really good friends with our neighbors so we have traditions that we share like walking our neighborhood to look at Christmas lights and having brunch on Christmas Eve.
Sounds like a great neighborhood and a fun tradition! Have a great holiday!
What a fun tradition! We don’t have any set in stone yet but I’d like to!
It is never too late to start! Just do one this year and then next year add another and before you know it you are traditioned out! lol…
Our family’s pretty young still so we’re just starting to find traditions that work for us but we do have one: going to the traditional church Christmas dances on a nearby island (we live in the Marshall Islands). It was actually the first one we went to that we decided to start a family. Three kids and five years later, we’re still going. Christmas without winter can be different but having our own traditions helps make it special.
Thanks for sharing and linking up through the Shine Blog Hop!
Amber at OurCharmedLife.net
Thank you for stopping by! Christmas without winter sounds wonderful when it is snowing and cold out but I’m sure it does take some time to get used to. Have a wonderful holiday season!
I want to try christmas at hersheys next year!
This is awesome! Thank you so much for linking at Counting My Blessings! I am Tweeting and Pinning to help me remember to come back and check out all of the great holiday tips and ideas. Enjoy a blessing-filled weekend.
Thank you for stopping by! Hope you have a great weekend as well!